CINCINNATI — So far, so good for the Patriots. They’re 4-0 heading into their Sunday afternoon game here against the Bengals, and you can’t get any better than that. But the fact is that things could be...

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By
JIM DONALDSON
Posted Oct. 5, 2013 @ 6:43 pm

CINCINNATI — So far, so good for the Patriots.

They’re 4-0 heading into their Sunday afternoon game here against the Bengals, and you can’t get any better than that.

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But the fact is that things could be a lot better for the Pats.

Especially their karma.

The 2013 Patriots have a perfect record so far, but seem to have considerably less than perfect karma.

Rancorous contract negotiations resulted in Wes Welker’s departure to Denver. To replace him, the Pats signed the oft-injured Danny Amendola, who missed 20 of 32 games his last two years with the Rams and has played in only the season opener for New England. Meanwhile, Welker — who averaged 112 receptions a year in his six seasons with the Pats — has caught six touchdown passes in four games for the Broncos.

Then there was the shocking, appalling news about star tight end Aaron Hernandez, indicted and imprisoned on charges of murder in the first degree.

Now, perennial All-Pro tackle Vince Wilfork, the veteran leader of the defensive unit, has been lost for the season with a torn Achilles tendon.

You can talk all you want about offense and defense. You can talk all you want about X’s and O’s. I want to talk about karma.

It’s hard to feel good about the championship prospects of the Patriots.

Oh, they’re still likely to win the AFC East title — although they may face a sterner challenge than expected from the improved Miami Dolphins — and get into “the tournament,” as Bill Parcells always called the playoffs.

But the Pats don’t really look, or feel, like a team that can get to the Super Bowl — unlike, say, the Peyton Manning-led Broncos — and that is the standard by which all Tom Brady-led Patriots teams are judged.

Say we’re spoiled here in New England, if you like — it would be hard to dispute that — but ever since a 24-year-old Tommy Brady came off the bench to replace the injured Drew Bledsoe in 2001 and went on to take the Patriots to their first NFL championship, it’s been all about winning titles.

Although Brady and the Pats won three Super Bowls in a span of four years, they haven’t won another since the 2004 season.

The dazzling, exciting and high-scoring — the Pats set an NFL record by racking up 586 points — season of 2007, when the Patriots went 16-0, ended in disappointment. After Brady connected with Randy Moss to give New England a 14-10 lead in Super Bowl XLII with just 2:42 to go, the Giants drove 83 yards to the winning touchdown.

The Giants also frustrated the Pats in Super Bowl XLVI in Indianapolis with another late-game TD.

Last year, as in the 2006 season, the Pats lost in the AFC Championship Game.

So while there have been a lot of very good seasons since the Patriots last brought the Vince Lombardi Trophy home to Foxboro, there have been no great seasons, although 2007 came oh-so-close to being a season for the ages.

Now, with Brady at age 36, his years as a top-flight quarterback are numbered.

And this year, despite their 4-0 start, isn’t looking like a championship season for the Patriots.

The karma just doesn’t seem right.

First Welker, then Hernandez, now Wilfork.

Instead of things falling into place for the Patriots, they seem to be falling apart.

Whereas everything went right for the 2013 Red Sox, there is a feeling of foreboding about the Patriots.

As long as Brady’s healthy, the Pats are going to be a good team. But are they good enough to beat, say, the Broncos?

We’ll find out the night of Nov. 24, in Foxboro.

A lot, however, can happen between now and then.

Given what’s happened so far in this season of questionable karma, it’s hard to be wildly — or even mildly — optimistic about the Pats’ championship chances.